Sometimes I think it's been so long since people started reading the characters that they enjoy that they've forgotten just what it was that made them fans in the first place.  Peel back the years and I'm sure you'll find something in all of them that resonates and kept you coming back for more. 

***

Agreed.

One thing I disliked (which Mr. Byrne didn't do when he updated the character) was Superman saying, "Great Rao!" or "Great Krypton!" It made no sense that a person raised on Earth would say anything like that. 

Would, say, an Australian-born individual, who came to America as a baby, go around saying, "Stone the crows!" No, he'd likely speak in a way which was consistent with his upbringing in the US. So when Superman, raised in America, would say things like "Great Rao!", I often found it distracting and without conviction.

So I'm glad that Mr. Byrne's Superman, whilst doing all the superhero stuff, gave us a grounded Superman who wasn't pining for Krypton every five minutes or using Kryptonian sayings. 

The idea that JB just brought a Marvel art style and nothing else to Superman is ridiculous. So many artists worked back and forth for DC and Marvel there wasn't a "Marvel "style, only individual artist's styles.

In either case JB brought more to Superman than just his art.

In JB's first issue, Superman almost dies in battle against one of his foes (Metallo) and only because of interference from Lex Luthor did Superman survive. 

It took only one issue, the first one, for JB to establish that it's no longer a case of "don't worry, he's Superman, he's got this" and instead we have a noble hero who can be defeated and even face the possibility of death during battles. 

That is drama. That is action. That is how to do exciting Superman comics.

Not to drift, but that's an interesting point.

My girlfriend was born in Ireland and moved here when she was very young.  But her parents, whose house she grew up in, used many "Irish terms" that she picked up and to this day she still uses them.  It confused me the first time I heard each of them but now I know what she's talking about!  

So, the Australian might actually use "stone the crows" or something.  But Superman? Nah.  He'd say things Ma and Pa Kent said.      

Almost across the board, historians and creators preferred the early Superman stories to the later fairy tale type stories, certainly after that had a chance to actually read them. Much of the stuff that some Superman fans deem "essential" sprang from a mandate by DC after WWII that put the brakes on drama, action, "relative realism", and more "sophisticated" pulp fiction themes. Without question, it greatly reduced the character of Batman from an artistic standpoint that wasn't corrected until the late 60's. 

The best Superman has ever been was during JB's run (as well as the whole Stern/Ordway era) the first two Superman films and his DC animated universe as well as the classic Fleischer cartoons. 

All I can say is that I strongly disagree with that opinion.  Marvel comics were quite different from DC comics in the 60's, but I would not say they were better.  Both companies had their strengths and weaknesses.  DC Comics certainly did have drama and intrigue at times.  They didn't have as much action and violence (in the sense of pages-long battles between hero and villain), but again, I don't necessarily need that in every superhero story.  I know that Marvel won the war in terms of their style coming to dominate all superhero comics, and I know this is Marvel-centric board, but I can't understand the viewpoint that the Marvel style is inherently, universally superior across the board.  I love old Marvel comics, but I also love a good, plot-driven gimmicky DC story, as well as the bizarre psychological dramas of Weisinger-era Superman.  It makes me wonder how many older Superman stories you guys have read?  If you can't appreciate the greatness of that first Lori Lemaris story by Bill Finger, or "Superman Under the Red Sun" by Edmond Hamilton, or "The Death of Superman" by Siegel, I guess I don't know what to tell you.    

I thought that was a rather ham-fisted attempt to shoehorn some Marvel-style angst into Superman, and it didn't fit at all.  As Stephen said, Superman doesn't need to have angst... he's happy and well-adjusted.  And the particular idea Kirby came up with doesn't fit with the Superman we'd seen all those years.  Superman doesn't see himself as an outsider, he sees himself as an earthling and an American.  The idea of Superman longing to live with other super-powered beings so he can feel "normal" just does not ring true.